Flags fly at half-staff for WWII Seaside pilot

Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff in Sacramento on Monday to honor a Seaside World War II pilot.

The remains of 2nd Lt. Valorie L. Pollard, the son of a Monterey cannery worker who grew up in what became Seaside, were officially identified in July by the Defense Department.

The U.S. Army Air Force pilot died when his plane crashed into a mountain in Papua New Guinea in March 1944.

"(Second) Lt. Pollard bravely gave his life in service to our state and nation," said a news release from the governor's office, "and the Governor and First Lady extend their deepest condolences to his family at this difficult time."

Pollard will be buried Tuesday in Arlington National Cemetery in a joint grave with his gunner, Sgt. Dominick J. Licari, of Frankfort, N.Y.

A Defense Department spokeswoman said the remains had to be buried together because Pollard's DNA could not be identified from Licari's.

Pollard's only immediate blood relative, daughter Sandra Pollard, said Monday afternoon she was honored by the governor's gesture and called his office to thank them personally.

Sandra Pollard of Des Moines, Iowa, is flying to Arlington for the burial Tuesday.

She was born three months after her father's death and said her now-deceased mother never stopped believing he would be found.

Much of Valorie Pollard's service is a mystery because his Army file was destroyed in the infamous 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. The blaze destroyed 16 to 18 million records.